Announcements/Annonces : Rural Opportunities Network Launched

Source: Royal Roads University.
The Rural Opportunities Network website has just been launched to help grow small and medium-scale natural resource-based businesses. The network is an open, bilingual nation-wide network of people and knowledge, focused on raising awareness and creating opportunities for businesses engaged in the sustainable use of natural resources.

You can use the network to share information and ideas, connect with individuals and organizations across Canada and learn from the growing collection of resources and tools. Topics covered range from agroforestry and special forest products to e-marketing and social media.

The network’s National Buyer’s and Seller’s Directory provides the opportunity for you to advertise (for free!) your business or services. Building on the success of “BuyBCwild” and “From Our Atlantic Woods”, this new national Directory lists suppliers of a wide range of natural resource products, from fine furniture to maple syrup. An interactive map shows the location of each listing allowing you to find businesses in your area. This can help you determine what products or services are needed locally that you might want to market.

The Tools and Resources page provides links to written information and other websites as well as giving you the opportunity to share your expertise. Be sure to check out the fact sheets in the Rural Opportunities Collection along with the guidebooks, business plans and case studies in the Guidebooks and Toolkits section.

Gary Backlund a BC woodlot licencee is featured in videos on aspects of woodlot management including small scale sawmilling, native plant nursery management and niche product creation. Betty and Ken Foote demonstrate how to make floral greenery products and Eric Whitehead from Untamed Feast shows us the best way to process wild mushrooms.

Fact sheets in the Rural Opportunities Collection provide easy to read advice on using social media and e-marketing, greening your business and many other topics. Guidebooks to help you assess the tourism potential of your area and publications on community forests, mushroom harvesting, essential oil production are featured in Guidebooks and Toolkits section. You can find advisors to help you grow your business and see what events are coming up that you won’t want to miss by checking out the Network page.

The website was developed by the Center for Livelihoods and Ecology at Royal Roads University in partnership with Biopterre, the Institute for Culture and Ecology, FORREX, INFOR, Untamed Feast and the Canadian Model Forest Network. Funding was provided by the Canadian Rural and Cooperatives Secretariat and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Public Outreach and Dissemination portfolio.

Let us know what you think! You can help build the network by sending links to information and sharing your expertise. Contact us at info@ruralnetwork.ca or at http://ruralnetwork.ca/send-us-your-feedback

Visit the Rural Opportunities Network website: www.ruralnetwork.ca